A printed circuit board is described in copending application Ser. No. 09/477,847 filed Jan. 4, 2000 which comprises selected traces which terminate at a side edge of the board in an array of contact ends. The contact ends are engageable with respective compressive contacts of a contact assembly which serves to interconnect the circuit board to a backplane or other mating device or circuit. The printed circuit board is typically mounted orthogonally to a backplane and often an array of boards are mounted in an enclosure for connecting to a common backplane. This type of printed circuit board having selected traces which terminate at a side of the board in an array of contact ends is referred to herein as a side interconnect or SI board.
Appropriate hardware must be employed to achieve proper alignment of the SI boards to a backplane and to maintain proper contact force for good electrical connection between contacts of each board and contacts of the backplane. Conventionally electrical connectors are provided at a surface of each board and which are mateable with an electrical connector on the backplane. Such connectors add bulk which may limit the packing density of boards which are mateable within a single enclosure to a backplane. Such connectors also add to the electrical path length which can affect electrical performance.
In accordance with the invention, interconnection apparatus is provided which is especially useful to mount and connect circuit boards having a contact assembly of resilient compressive contacts to a backplane or other mateable board or device. The circuit boards can be side interconnect (SI) boards. The apparatus includes an enclosure having guide channels for each SI board to be housed in the enclosure, a contact assembly for providing compressive contact between the contact ends of each board and corresponding contacts of the backplane, and elements for seating each board into engagement with the backplane.
The interconnection apparatus of the invention transfers compression forces of the interconnect contacts to the backplane and support plate and not to the card cage enclosure. The structural strength of the cage itself need not withstand the full loading forces of the cards since the loading forces are not transferred to the cage structure once the cards are seated.